St. Kuriacos Elias Chavara

3 January 2018

(Optional Memory)

Saint Cyriac (Kuriakos) Elias Chavara, co-founder and first Prior General of the Congregation of the Carmelites of Mary Immaculate. Born at Kainakary in Kerala, India, on February 10,1805; he entered the seminary in 1818; ordained priest in 1829; he laid the foundation for the first monastery at Mannanam in 1831; made his religious profession in 1855; Vicar Generalof the Syro-Malabar Church from 1861; co-founder also of the Sisters of the Congregation of the Mother of Carmel in 1866; defender of ecclesial unity against the schism of Rochos; worked all his life for the spiritual renewal of the Church in Malabar; above all a man of prayer; zealous for the eucharist; specially devoted to the Immaculate Virgin Mary; died at Koonammavu in 1871; mortal remains transferred to Mannanam in 1889.